Canadian Wildlife
September/October 2009
Just how much should we do for species at risk?
By Sharon Oosthoek
Rappelling down an oceanside cliff in the Bay of Fundy to secure peregrine falcon nesting boxes may seem an extreme way to restore an extirpated species.
Ditto herding massive plains bison onto huge cattle trucks and shipping them from Alberta to Saskatchewan, where their like has not been seen in more than 120 years. Not to mention sending captive-bred black-footed ferrets to boot camp to learn the ways of the wild before setting them loose.
The captive-breeding and release program ran from the early 1980s to the mid-90s and brought peregrin falcons back from the brink across the southern part of the country.
In an era where we have altered just about every habitat on earth – whether through climate change, fragmentation or pollution and invasive species – some wildlife experts are starting to argue it’s our responsibility to do whatever it takes to help species at risk.
Yet there are painful decisions to be made: Is there really any point trying to preserve a species when it’s as far gone as, say British Columbia’s 11 remaining spotted owl pairs? How do we decide which species get money and support, and which ones slip away? And given that climate change is affecting some animals’ range so dramatically, is it also up to us to create new habitat for them?